Zermatt hosts symposium on creativity

The resort of Zermatt welcomes some of the world's most innovative thinkers today, when the tenth international symposium on creativity gets under way. The meeting will touch on subjects as diverse as flamenco, information technology and Buddhism.

The Swiss ski resort of Zermatt will welcome some of the world’s most innovative thinkers today, when the tenth international symposium on creativity gets under way. The meeting will touch on subjects as diverse as flamenco, lasers, information technology and Buddhism.

The four-day gathering, which ends on Sunday, brings together five leading figures from different disciplines. They will be talking about what motivates them, and what kind of problems they encounter when they come up with innovative ideas.

The aim is to provide a better understanding of the creative process and the mechanisms that lead to the discovery of new ideas.

The conference is the brainchild of the renowned Swiss psychiatrist, Gottlieb Guntern, who in 1979 set up the Martigny-based Creando, an international foundation for creativity and leadership.

Guntern said that around half the 260 people taking part are business leaders. The economics minister, Pascal Couchepin, will be at the Zermatt symposium in a private capacity.

The five main participants are the Spanish flamenco choreographer, Antonio Gades; the Nobel Prize-winning American physicist, Charles H. Townes; the West Indian Nobel literature laureate, Derek Walcott; the head of Sun Microsystems’ Science Office, John Gage: and the prominent Japanese Buddhist leader, T. Ryugen Ogasawara.